CougarCorner

Total Roster: 18 players

Covid-19 Exception players:
G Alex Barcello

Scholarship players (12 of 13):
G Hunter EricksonG Nate Hansen - Returned Missionary - still have scholly offer?
G Spencer Johnson
G Trevin Knell
G Te'Jon Lucas - Transfer from Milwaukee
G Trey Stewart - Returned Missionary

F Gavin Baxter
F Gideon George
F Caleb Lohner
F Fousseyni Traore

C Atiki Ally Atiki
C Richard Harward

Walk-ons:
G Casey Brown - Returned Missionary
G Jeremy DowDell - Returned Missionary
G Cameron Pearson
G Townsend Tripple - Was he planning on a delayed mission?
G Brandon Warr

Fido wrote: ↑Wed May 19, 2021 2:32 pm Total Roster: 18 players

Covid-19 Exception players:
G Alex Barcello - ??? Not yet confirmed to be returning
G Te'Jon Lucas - Transfer from Milwaukee

Scholarship players (11 of 13):
G Hunter Erickson
G Nate Hansen - Returned Missionary
G Spencer Johnson
G Trevin Knell
G Trey Stewart - Returned Missionary

F Gavin Baxter
F Gideon George
F Caleb Lohner
F Fousseyni Traore

C Atiki Ally Atiki
C Richard Harward

Walk-ons:
G Casey Brown - Returned Missionary
G Jeremy DowDell - Returned Missionary
G Cameron Pearson
G Townsend Tripple - Was he planning on a delayed mission?
G Brandon Warr

G Te'Jon Lucas - Transfer from Milwaukee: His scholarship will count against BYU's scholarship limit, since he did not play for BYU last year (Barcello, Averette, or Haarms would not).

G Nate Hansen - Returned Missionary: Everything I have read or heard, Coach Pope withdrew Nates scholarship offer when he took over from Coach Rose and offered Trey Stewart instead. A little more of the connecting the dots was when Atiki Ally Atiki committed, at that time no BYU players were in the portal. Thus the scholarship spots for Barcello, Averette, and Haarms would be filled by Trey Stewart, Fousseyni Traore, and Atiki Ally Atiki. Now could Nate Hansen end up with a scholarship? Maybe, if you have been following the BYU Basketball recruiting this Spring, BYU still seem to be after at least 2 more players from the portal (like G- Both Gach and Big- Dusan Mahorcic). If we don't land either of the 2, I think we will see other players in the portal that list BYU as a team that is showing interest in them.

Townsend Tripple's plan was to play a year at BYU before his mission, that way a lot of the COVID issues would have time to become more clear (remember at the time he would have been going out, missionaries were actually being sent home because of COVID).

I've been trying to verify the position that covid-exception year players don't count against the scholarship limit unless they transfer to another school. However, I've not been able to find that. What I do find is this generic statement "For D1 fall sports, seniors who have scholarships and who will be using the extra year of eligibility will not count against the team’s scholarship limit for the 2021-22 season." from this link at NCAA.org. https://www.ncsasports.org/coronavirus- ... oronavirus
I'm open to being corrected on this but would like to see a link of something explaining it. I'll move his category for the time being though.

I've also heard the rumors that Nate Hansen's scholarship may have been pulled by Pope when he took over, but I've never been able to find it published anywhere. I figured this would shake out when Hansen returned from his mission. The last tweet on his account was from March 4, 2019 and he still has his BYU commitment story pinned.

I also initially had Townsend Tripple leaving for a mission after his freshman year at BYU when he took the covid-19 delay. But I've not seen anything indicating a change. The Cougs Daily page lists both Hansen and Tripple on the roster for the coming year (https://www.si.com/college/byu/news/upd ... all-roster) which is why I added them back on, assuming better to think they are until we can verify they aren't.

BYU is still chasing players in the transfer portal--but I guess we'll see if they have 1 or 2 scholarships left to offer as things play out.

Barcello needs to decide what he's going to do.

I like the addition of Te'Jon Lucas. He ought to be good, but I wonder whether he'll play PG or the 2. Probably depends on what Barcello decides.

GAKunkel wrote: ↑Wed May 19, 2021 11:52 pm Barcello needs to decide what he's going to do.

I like the addition of Te'Jon Lucas. He ought to be good, but I wonder whether he'll play PG or the 2. Probably depends on what Barcello decides.

Not sure it really matters which is the 1 or 2 in BYU's offense. I really could tell most of the time if Barcello or Averette was the PG when they were in at the same time. Either one could bring the ball up and both ran the pick and roll. The key seem to be for Coach Pope is to have at least 2 really good ball handlers (and passers) on the court as much as possible. Spencer Johnson is a pretty good ball handler, but not as good as Barcello or Averette, but often it seemed like he was the guard who would be on the court for the 2nd ball handler when Barcello or Averette weren't on the court at the same time. I think Hunter Erickson will be another ball handling option this year after over a year of post mission time to knock the rust of and improve on areas of his skills.

Barcello is back for one more year.